Foil
by Konstantya
Summary: "Allen would kill me if he knew I was doin' this with you, I hope you appreciate that." (Post-series. A short, mild Gaddes/Celena, based on a tumblr prompt by Gura Kruor.)


General Note: I'm only going to reformat my fics so much when this site is the one at fault. So if the formatting is weird, please check out my profile for more info. Thank you.

A/N: As alluded to in the summary, this was born from a writing meme going around tumblr. The idea was that someone sent you a pairing and one sentence, and then you wrote the next five. Only…I wrote a hell of a lot more than five sentences (ahahaha), at which point I figured I might as well post it as an actual fic.

The original prompt, for the curious, was: _"Celena/Gadess: It was their secret, something her brother couldn't approve (in fact, they spare with their swords)."_

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**Foil  
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"Allen would kill me if he knew I was doin' this with you, I hope you appreciate that."

Celena deftly parried then went in for a thrust, but Gaddes blocked her at the last minute with one of the bracers on his arms, causing her blade to glance off to the side. It wasn't very formal, his style of fighting—a strange mish-mash of military training and barroom brawling—but she liked it for that very reason. Everyone was so _delicate_ with her, and while she understood the reasons why, sometimes it was nice to just be able to _let loose_.

She clucked her tongue. "He isn't going to kill you; you're his best friend."

"Best friend, nothin'," Gaddes shot back. "He's still my boss, and he'll still kill me."

Another lunge, another dodge. "Well," she said. "I'll just have to protect you, myself, then."

He chuckled at that, one corner of his mouth curving up in admiration. "You probably could, too."

She eased off for a moment, planting the tip of her sword in the ground and letting them both catch their breath. She watched him as he took out a faded handkerchief and dabbed at the sweat on the back of his neck. "It really doesn't bother you, does it?" she said. "I mean, my being a girl."

Gaddes shrugged. The man didn't seem capable of being fazed by _anything_. "Older sisters," he said, as if that explained everything. "Well," he added, "and then there's the fact that my family ain't exactly nobility. We were all expected to pull our weight, as it were. Never much mattered who was choppin' the wood or doin' the laundry, so long as it got done."

Maybe it was naïve of her, but Celena thought it sounded _wonderful_, being common. "Do you ever see them much?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her. "Your sisters, that is?" She tried to imagine them, what their sibling dynamic might be. Whether they ever put the fear of the gods into their little brother or twisted his ear when he got out of line—a rather amusing mental image, considering that Gaddes was even taller than Allen. Celena stifled a giggle.

"Oh, every now and then," he said. "One lives on the outskirts of the capitol—her husband's a farmer—and the other married a silversmith and lives in the city."

"Do you think I could maybe meet them one day?" To tell the truth, a part of her actually wanted her _brother_ to meet them even more. Maybe if he had some more exposure to women who weren't merely expected to wear dresses and look pretty, he wouldn't be so overprotective with _her_. Clearly it had worked for his second-in-command, after all.

Gaddes laughed at the enthusiasm in her voice and propped the back of his sword over his shoulder. "Maybe. Though I'm pretty sure you'd run off and find them one way or another, whether I said yes or not, so perhaps I should arrange a visit."

Celena grinned. Whether she would run off or not was debatable. But she most certainly would _want_ to. The fact that he knew her so well was comforting, in a way. Sometimes she found herself thinking about him at the oddest times, and if she caught herself in a mirror, her cheeks were as red as the men's were during a night of heavy drinking.

She'd worry about what that meant later. For now, she was content to pluck her sword out of the ground, dust the dirt off the tip, and take position. "Again?" she asked.

Gaddes laughed ruefully and hefted his own blade, settling once again into a fighting stance. "One way or another," he said, shaking his head, "I'm fairly certain you're gonna be the death of me."

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A/N: THAT GADDES, WHAT A MAN. ;DDD (And he was so much fun to write, you have no idea.)

And because this is as good a place to advertise it as any, I did also write a little Folken/Eries piece, based on another prompt for the same meme. It's too short for me to feel it's worth posting here, but if you're curious (or just hurtin' for some F/E, whichever), you can find it on my DW/LJ (or my tumblr, obviously, though you'll have to go digging for it).

Anyway, thanks for reading! This fandom needs more Gaddes love. XD


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